“So, how’s life treating you?” Andrew asked, leaning back in his chair.
The last thing I wanted to discuss was that my baby sister had been expelled from school for fraternizing with boys, or that I had hippies camping in my backyard, or that I’d kissed my best friend—and liked it way too much, thus risking said friendship—so I just shrugged and said, “The usual. What about you guys?”
Marnie rolled her eyes. “Andrew is insufferable because he’s been dating Ivy from Social Sciences.”
“Nice,” I said, happy for him, Andrew and Ivy were both good people. I grinned at Andrew and he grinned back. Then I looked over at Marnie. She’d hinted a couple of times that she’d like to go out, but I’d always been seeing someone when she’d done the hinting, then she’d been seeing someone when I wasn’t. She was smart and gorgeous, and she loved ancient musical instruments, so she was probably my perfect match. And I really needed to date someone right now, to get Scarlett out of my head.
“Hey, Marnie,” I said. “Do you want to get a drink sometime?”
“Like a date?” she asked, and Andrew chuckled in the corner.
I had a moment’s hesitation as I considered Scarlett, but really, that was exactly why I needed to date Marnie. I needed to stop thinking of Scarlett in that way. Or of kissing her. Or that noise she’d made when her tongue had first touched mine… Yeah, all that needed to stop.
I cleared my throat. “If you’re not seeing anyone, then sure, like a date.”
She smiled. “I’m free tomorrow evening.”
“Great.” I nodded and tried to feel some kind of anticipation. “How about I swing by here about six tomorrow?”
“I’ll be ready,” she said, her eyes sparking with excitement.
As I left, I wondered that, given that I’d just made a date with a girl who seemed perfect for me, why wasn’t I grinning as widely as Andrew?
Scarlett
I pulled the tacos from the oven and slid the tray onto a counter in front of Amelia. Finn had left on a date—which I was refusing to think about—and my mother would be here any minute. Amelia had been home now for almost a week, and it was time I had the birds and bees chat with her that Finn had asked me to.
I had no idea what to say in a birds and bees talk, since I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t known how to make babies, thanks to my hippie parents. I figured that since it was their fault for telling me too early for me to remember, the least they could do was support me in this, so my mother was coming over to help. She was excited. I was dreading it.
But I’d thought of Amelia like a little sister for four years now, so it was time to put on my big girl panties and start acting like a big sister.
“So, who’s Finn going out with tonight?” Amelia asked as she took three plates from the cupboards, her shiny hair swishing against her back.
“I don’t know her. Someone from the university.”
“He managed to find another one with a thing for guys in light blue shirts?”
We both giggled even though we’d probably said that exact same line to each other a thousand times over the years. Some jokes just never got old. Especially when Finn continued to provide such good material with his clothing choices.
My mother came through the door then, saving me from having to make nice about Finn’s date, who he’d probably kiss until she felt like melting into the floor. I hated his new date already.
“Hello, you two!” my mother said, holding a velvet bag up high. “I’m so looking forward to our girls’ night!”
Amelia crossed the kitchen to hug her. Their bond made me smile. I think Amelia liked having a mother-aged woman in her life, and my mother loved kids in general.
I grabbed the bowls of grated cheese and shredded lettuce. I had no idea how tonight was going to pan out—I’d decided to wing it—but I’d been through my DVD collection and had some feel good chick flicks ready to play as soon as the talking part of the proceedings was over. Which I hoped was soon.
I gave my mother a one-armed hug as I found all the condiments. “Can you take these out to the sofa?”
She grinned at me. “For a person who says she prefers a house to a tent, you don’t seem to take advantage of having an actual dining table.”
“It’s covered in Finn’s research.” Someone needed to buy that man a desk—it was clear he wasn’t going to buy himself one.
Once we were set up, sitting cross-legged on the floor and assembling our tacos from the ingredients spread across the coffee table, I decided it was time to bite the bullet.
“So, Amelia,” I said, injecting as much brightness into my voice as I could. “Since we’re here, and it’s just us girls, I was wondering if you had any questions, you know, about boys. Or anything.”
Amelia looked from me to my mother and back again. “Are you two giving me the sex talk?”
“No, dear,” said the Earth Mother across the table. “We’re just creating a safe space for you to ask questions.”
Amelia looked at me, eyebrows raised, and waited.
“Maybe,” I said, sighing. “Okay, yeah, this is the sex talk.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did Finn put you up to this?”
I scratched my head, wondering if it was better for her to think that he had or he hadn’t. “He thought you’d be more comfortable talking to me than to him.”
“He got that right,” she said, shuddering. “But you didn’t need to go to all this trouble. I can find information on my own.”
“I know you can,” my mother said, “but since we’re sitting here anyway, why not ask us some things? Between us we might know the answer.”
Amelia shifted her weight and finished assembling her taco. “I don’t think I have any questions right now.”
My mother wasn’t fazed in the slightest. “Well, how about I talk, then? First thing to know is that your orgasm is just as important as his. If you sleep with a boy who thinks otherwise, you walk away and don’t look back.”
I groaned. It was one thing to have my mother as back-up on a birds and bees talk, but quite another to have her talking about orgasms in front of me. “How about we leave—”
“And another thing,” my mother said, on a roll now. “You’ll need to take responsibility for your own pleasure. Men’s turn-ons are pretty easy to work out, but you’ll probably have to teach your first few lovers how to bring you pleasure, so you’d better spend some time getting to know your own body.”
If Finn could hear my mother telling his baby sister about teaching her first few lovers, he’d probably have some kind of cardiac failure. But Amelia had gone from embarrassment to rapt attention in the space of two seconds. I, however, was still dying from embarrassment.
“Oh, and don’t believe anything you see in a porn movie,” she told a nodding Amelia. “Not the way the women look, the women’s reactions, or what the women say they want. Those movies are made by men for men.”
I darted a look around the room. They wouldn’t notice if I crawled away, surely? They didn’t need me here for this discussion. Slowly, so as not to bring attention to myself, I laid my plate down and edged away from the coffee table.
“Scarlett,” my mother said, pinning me with her focused gaze. “I think it’s time we started the initiation.”
My blood turned cold. Initiation? Surely, she wasn’t serious?
“Um, what initiation, Mother?” I said pointedly.
“We’re the adult women of the house—well, there’s Billie, too, but we’re the ones who are here—so it’s our responsibility to welcome Amelia into her womanhood.”
Amelia’s eyes had widened to circles, and I knew just how she felt. I offered my mother a smile and tried to sound reasonable. “We’re just having a casual chat about sex and stuff. There’s no welcoming or talk of womanhood here. How about I grab one of those DVDs—”
But my mother wasn’t listening. She’d opened her velvet bag and was pulling out crystals, statues of various goddesses, a smudge stick, and other assorted paraphernalia.